Origin
by BeauMonstre507
Summary: When a young woman gives birth to a river god, he's mistaken for a monster by the other villagers and is thrown into the jungle to fend for himself.
1. Chapter 1

I was only a few months old at the time, but I still remember it. That day. An angry, chanting crowd surrounded the cliff. One of the older villagers held me over the edge, his nails digging into my dorsal fin. There was a river at the bottom of the cliff but from so high up it might as well have been solid rock. My mother screamed and cried. But it was no use. They wouldn't let her near me. I remember the fall. The hit. I should have died that day. But I didn't.

I woke up hours later, in the pitch black of night. I had washed up on the riverbank. It was so cold. Lonely. Leaves rustled, growls echoed through the trees. I scurried back into the water to hide. A spotted monster slinked into view. Fangs as long as my arms and claws sharp enough to slice through stone.

I swam a few yards down the river, never taking my eyes off the monster. I wanted to flee, I really did. But I couldn't. I was in complete awe. The monster leaned its head down to take a drink. Almost the second it's tongue touched the water, another monster leapt up and clamped it's jaws around the spotted one's neck. This monster was much larger. It had scales, similar to mine, covering its body. Both were gone in an instant.

The safety of my mothers arms was gone. This was my new home.


	2. Chapter 2

I hadn't eaten in days. I never dared hunt anything bigger than me, which was about everything, and anything smaller than me was too quick or clever. I missed my life in the village. Rather, I missed my mother. She always kept me well nourished. She always sang me to sleep at night. If I had just kept quiet a few minutes longer until that man left, I would still be with her.

My stomach grumbled and my mind quickly shifted back to finding food. I thought back to that scaled monster. How it managed to take down what I thought was the top of the food chain with no trouble. But how? Sure it was bigger in weight but those teeth and claws were nowhere near as long as the spotted monsters. Surely it could have defended itself if only it had seen the attack coming. Seen it coming. The scaled monster had the element of surprise. It had the murky water to hide in.

Maybe I can hunt like that too. I find a good spot near the edge of the river to wait. And I waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, a small furry creature emerged from the forest. It had a long snout-like nose and a huge white patch on it's back. It was actually kinda cute. I almost feel bad for what I did next. It waddled up to the water for a drink. I bit down on it's throat like I saw the scaled monster do. But that wasn't enough to take it down immediately. The creature fell into the water and thrashed wildly as I struggled to keep a hold of it. It kept trying to jump back out of the water and I kept dragging it back down. After what seemed like hours, it fell limp. So did I, completely exhausted. I wasn't sure if it had drowned or bled out. But that didn't matter. I was responsible for it's death. I had successfully hunted my own food. I could only hope it wasn't just luck.


	3. Chapter 3

The years went by and I hadn't seen any humans. The river swept me too far from my mother's village to ever have any hope of finding it. Not that I even really wanted to. I'd made a new home of the jungle. I built a nest on the riverside like I'd seen the flying creatures do in trees. It wasn't nearly as intricately crafted though. It grew as I did. Collecting more an more shiny rocks I would find. It even had the pelt of a spotted monster I'd drowned. By far my most difficult kill. But afterwards, no predators in the area dared prey on me. Save for maybe the scaled monsters. But I rarely ever saw them near my nest.

The fish started to become less and less present in the area and I had to travel further down the river to hunt. I didn't understand where the fish had gone at the time, I now know it was the work of the human village that had set itself up in the nearby trees. However they more than made it up to me over the years.

I had come home from another unsuccessful hunt and curled up in the nest with my spotted fur. Leaves rustled. I quickly and quietly slipped into the water, hoping it was an animal coming for a drink. Two humans stepped up to the water. One a child, and the other I assumed was his mother. I could only float there in complete shock. Were they from mother's village? What if they found out the fall didn't kill me? Were they going to come after me? In my panic I didn't notice the toddler staring at me. He tugged his mothers arm and pointed laughing.

His mother had a rather different reaction upon seeing me. She gasped and pushed her son back slightly. It felt like hours we just stared into each others eyes, trying to figure out the other's intentions. She reached out a hand to me and made some strange noise I didn't understand. I cautiously waded forward ready to attack if needed. As I drew closer her expression softened into a warm smile. She had realized I was little more than a child. She cupped my cheek in her hand and continued with her strange noises. It'd been so long since I'd received genuine affection. I actually started crying when she stood up to go. But thankfully, that wasn't the last I'd see of her or her village.


End file.
